Best Night Ever

Best Night Ever is what i was thinking sitting in the Trocadora in Philly with an old friend of mine watching the original line-up of Sunny Day Real Estate. Besides that i was receiving multiple texts about Brooks Laich and Ovie scoring 2 goals a piece in the Cap's opener against the Boston Bruins.
Also, right after the show i was going to south Philly to stay with another buddy of mine.

All in all, it was a great night. But i left my friend's place to go home at 1 am. it was a rough drive home.

Saul Williams will be at the Black Cat Nov 1. i also will be there.

more of the same

more cold(er), more rain.

i've lost a bunch of weight over the last week or two, 5-7lbs of real weight (opposed to water weight). wasn't too hard. swap veggies and fruit for...pretty much everything. remain healthy and not too terribly hungry.

This next season i'd rather break the stereotype of a fat crit racer. I'm planning on honing in on as many road races as possible specifically the ones i skipped like Lost River and Page Valley. Poolesville, which was one of my favorites, will be the main goal i think of next season along with Fawn Grove Roubaix. I like Fawn Grove's course...short punchy climbs, a few gravel roads, "peleton" shattered through attrition. This year i'll have teammates to help me in poolesville though. No more- chasing a breakaway for 20 miles solo...between dragging the pack and being way off the front.

Also, Caps 1st preseason game is tonight against the Buffalo Sabers. GO CAPS!

Upgrade status

status=approved.

i didnt need 10 races after all.

i am a CAT 4. still lowly in ranks but i'm happy with my progress.

Also, quick story-went on a short, VERY slow ride today being a rest day and all. got about 3 or 4 miles away and caught a flat. bummer right? but not a big deal. except after i quickly got it changed and was about to be back on my way my CO2 cartridge failed...it was a dud. major bummer since i left my cell at home and i'm apparently not smart enough to carry more than one cartridge (i usually do but i've not yet replaced the one i used just the other day). ugh.

walked 3 or 4 miles home carrying my bike and shoes (i'd rather walk barefoot than in shoes with Look cleats).

CAPS WON!

Wednesday Night @ Haymarket

CYCLING
The guys from my team convinced me to show up at the Wednesday night training ride out of Haymarket. I thought i may be getting in over my head knowing some of the people that show up and that they are a much higher caliber group of riders.

I didn't regret it, on the contrary, i was very happy i went through with it. Its been a very long time since i rode in a group like that. I felt like i was 15 again, when i first started riding, very antsy. I would go as far as to say jumpy, a far cry from the smooth and fluid riders that populated the rest of the group.

But, i did my share of pulls, contended in their sprint sections, and made some (short lived & worthless) attacks. And I'm gaining a bit more confidence.

Another (super) short Crit on Sunday...i think 30 mins? geez that's short.

OH! and we got our new kits. they look sweet. pics shortly.

CAPS GAME
...bummer. way to ruin my evening.
Also, a good way to feel weird is to go to sit at the bar by yourself and eat a salad and potato with water.

HOUSE
I'm rebuilding the deck on Monday and Tuesday next week...ripping up the floor boards and putting in new ones. should be nice to have a real deck. AND they are going to start our basement this next week...THANK GOD.

karma in different forms

Yesterday after making fun of a few people and complaining to one of my "teammates"for not wanting to join me, i ventured forth into the cold rain. Weather.com said "currently 51 and feels like 51". To keep it short...it was not 51 degrees out. it felt more like getting soaking wet and then sitting in front of an A/C unit on full blast. Not to mention i felt like crap anyway. I tried to go do a few hill climbs but once i arrived and ramped up the first steep section i decided that it wouldn't really benefit my body to pound it further into oblivion than it already was.
I'm not sure if it was the cold, not enough rest, not enough nutrition, a combination of those or what, but i couldn't hack it yesterday at all. I basically went straight home; kind of slow.

After a long hot bath (my wife caulked the shower), i went to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the opening playoff game, Caps vs Rangers. Every time i would send Dan a text full of smack talk the Rangers would score. literally every time...4-3 Final score. ugh.
Driving the 2.5 miles home from the bar (which i should have walked to begin with but i was being lazy) , i managed to get a speeding ticket. 64 in a 45. nice guy at least. So now I'm up 3-2 vs my wife. bummer.

We have sent out the contract to get our basement fixed FINALLY. also our lawyers are serving the papers to the people we are suing.

race on saturday...

redemption?

Another race is a few days away. I felt pretty embarrassed after the last race and I'm hoping to redeem myself.

The finish sprint-

You can kind of see the havoc going on down the road.

NOTE: I'm not sure if my wife knows the camera has a zoom feature. sorry.

Mt Weather and more...

I rode up Mt Weather this past Saturday with John and Zach....it looks something like this:I learned I'm not the strongest climber. While I'm obviously not the greatest rider either and that may have a larger factor, it seems that everyone has their specialty...something they are good at. I'm thinking mine is not ascending and that's fine. I'll continue to find ridiculous climbs and pursue them. I like it.

Tonight the Caps play Toronto and playoffs are just a short period away. That may be a corny way of saying it, but its true and the Caps better start playing stronger or they'll end up in a positioning far less favorable come the first week of playoffs.

Jeff Cup is this Sunday. The course is fairly up and down 30 miles on a 10 mile lap with a single moderate climb and a false flat finish. Its also supposed to rain. I'm excited for that.

adios!

Vint Hill Crit Series

Yesterday was the 540cycling.com group ride (I'm not sure why everyone includes the ".com" at the end of anything 540cycling, but oh well...I'm new).

It was a little rainy yesterday, and by that i mean it rained all day and weened off around 330-4. So by 530 it was nice out. The road had dried up a bit and it was low 50's. I still figured the group ride would be less than 5 people and i was right. It was John, Zach and myself. I was a tad happy about this because i knew that meant they would want to go hard being that they are both strong riders and they know i can at least hang.

We headed over to the Vint Hill Park where we are organizing a local crit series. We did one lap just chatting and then the fun started; we started attacking each other. One of my biggest weaknesses is my inability to go hard for very long. Which obviously comes with a lot more riding/racing/training. maybe next year...Anyway, it was a ton of fun.

So from now on we are going to use Thursday night group rides as interval/crit practice at that park. it was a ton of fun. A nice mix up for the week.

In other news, my wife's Grandfather died two days ago. and the funeral is on Wednesday. I watched him literally die slowly, and its an experience I'll never forget. I kept thinking about the Death Cab for Cutie song "What Sarah Said", as we watched his blood pressure slowly but surely lower. He died in his sleep sometime after we left the hospital.

Go Caps!